"Dennis Gibbs" wrote in message
news:I%Sxe.52790$R21.3417@lakeread06...
Hello all,

I am beginning the process of searching for some land on which to build a
home. It will be located in the Pacific Northwest, in a fairly rural
area.
I expect to indulge myself heavily in my radio hobbies, including ham
radio
(especially on the HF bands) as well as a fair amount of Short Wave
Listening. I would like to solicit advice on how to evaluate a potential
location for quality of radio reception.

Aside from the obvious (i.e., a high elevation, away from high voltage
power
lines, plenty of room for antennas, etc.), are there any other attributes
I
should consider to ensure the location will be conducive to my radio
activities?

Dennis




You need to drop by the local building codes office. Your home site will be
located in a county or inside a city or town limit. Rules vary from place
to place but every place has building codes and inspectors who inspect
construction to ensure the codes are enforced.

Code enforcement varies from place to place -- I built houses in West
Virginia, southwest Virginia, northeast Tennessee, and southeast Kentucky --
there were some counties where we never saw an inspector and the guy who
issued our building permit at the county courthouse could not even read
blueprint house plans -- but in other counties they inspected us at every
turn.

If you are building in the county -- outside city or town limits -- the
county will inspect you. If you are building inside a city or town limit,
their inspectors will inspect your construction or they may use the county
inspectors, or, your construction may be inspected by both county and
town/city.

You need to check with the inspector's office or whichever office issues
building permits to see if they enforce codes on towers and antennas. You
may find that you can put up any tower, any height, anywhere you want --
or -- you may find that putting up even the simplest antenna support will
require engineering drawings, environmental impact statement, and several
inspections. Remember, too, if you are in the flight path of an airport,
even a local grass strip, you will have height limits and lighting
requirements on towers.

Also, you are likely to be wiring your house for a ham station, which means
one room or one corner of the house will have several 110VAC outlets plus
one or more 220VAC outlets for linear(s). The electrical inspector will
find this strange and you need to talk with him BEFORE you even think about
building so you get him on board with you -- he will tell you what the codes
require so you don't have to rip out any wiring. Don't forget, too, that
you will need some way for cables to go out of the house to the antennas --
and anytime you poke a hole in a wall, the inspectors get nosy -- you will
need to ensure that the cable egress location has proper sealing, fire
blocking, insulation, etc. Also, you'll need to ground the station -- talk
to the inspector about that because he may look askance at a #4 copper wire
running to a ground rod in addition to the one required at the entrance
panel. Remember, too, when you start laying out your floor plan -- if you
have water (a sink) within a few feet of the ham station, the outlets may be
required to be GFCI protected -- and you don't want GFCI on your ham station
outlets because you will forever be tripping the GFCI and shutting off the
power -- so locate the ham station away from sinks and faucets.

Bottom line: Find your local building codes office and get to know them
LONG before you select a building site.


--

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Joe S.